I was a Mall Santa for Potomac Mills Mall and for Fair Oaks Mall. This went on for several years as I was highly requested by Santa's people. You see, the difference between me and a lot of Santa helpers is I spent a lot of time studying the history of St.Nick, the Reindeer, the North Pole and so forth. When kids would come up I was ready to answer any question they might have. I also made sure I was knowledgeable on the latest toy crazes.
The elves that I worked with also requested that I return each year. The reason was, I basically put on a SHOW everytime a kid came and sat down and frankly even when they just walked by. I was an extremely animated and jolly Santa. I know it was great for business, but I really was doing it to please the families, the kids and mostly Santa himself (after-all, you never know when he'll show up to do a spot check!)
I have so many stories about being Santa. One of my favorites was the Mom who came up to my sleigh and told me her kid was really BAD this year and wondered if there was anything I could do to 'set him straight'. I told her, "I've got it under control, send him over". And the little fellow came over and sat down in my sleigh and I asked him his name. He told me and I sat there for a moment, kinda looked around puzzled, rubbed my beard and said, "hmmm, I don't recall anyone with that name on my Good List. WAIT A MINUTE! I know you! You're on my bad list!" The look on his face was priceless. I leaned in and told him, "Hey, don't worry, it's very easy to get off the bad list, you just have to listen to your Mom, keep your room clean, pick up your toys when you're finished playing with them, and do good in school. Why, if you can promise to do that, I'll make sure you get moved over to the top of the GOOD LIST!" Needless to say this kid was extremely relieved and was like Scrooge on Christmas Morning, a new Man! or new KID as it were. His Mother was all smiles and gave me two big thumbs up!!!!
Another thing I used to do was put on a really good show when babies were brought up. I would act as if I knew exactly what they were saying. Often this was video taped and the parents just LOVED the byplay between their infant and myself.
I was eventually replaced by a 'real bearded' Santa. I had a lot of people contact me and complain that the replacement was not as good as I was. It was a shame, because that pretty much put an end to my Santa career. I think it was the year after this that I started doing magic full time. I guess it all worked out fine.
AND Speaking of doing Magic Full Time, I will be doing my VERY MERRY MAGIC SHOW this month, not as Santa, but as ME! Click the link to find out more....(if you're interested that is).
No comments:
Post a Comment